The insertion of alpha–amino–3–hydroxy–5–methyl–4–isoxazolepropionic acid receptors (AMPARs) into the plasma membrane is a key step in synaptic delivery of AMPARs during the expression of synaptic plasticity. However, the molecular mechanisms regulating AMPAR insertion remain elusive. By directly visualizing individual insertion events of the AMPAR subunit GluR1, we demonstrate that Protein 4.1N is required for activity dependent GluR1 insertion. PKC phosphorylation of GluR1 S816 and S818 residues enhances 4.1N binding to GluR1, and facilitates GluR1 insertion. In addition, palmitoylation of GluR1 C811 residue modulates PKC phosphorylation and GluR1 insertion. Finally, disrupting 4.1N dependent GluR1 insertion decreases surface expression of GluR1 and the expression of long–term potentiation (LTP). Our study uncovers a novel mechanism that governs activity dependent GluR1 trafficking, reveals an interesting interplay between AMPAR palmitoylation and phosphorylation, and underscores the functional significance of the 4.1N protein in AMPAR trafficking and synaptic plasticity.

Accumulating data, including those from large genetic association studies, indicate that alterations in glutamatergic synapse structure and function represent a common underlying pathology in many symptomatically distinct cognitive disorders. In this review, we discuss evidence from human genetic studies and data from animal models supporting a role for aberrant glutamatergic synapse function in the etiology of intellectual disability (ID), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and schizophrenia (SCZ), neurodevelopmental disorders that comprise a significant proportion of human cognitive disease and exact a substantial financial and social burden. The varied manifestations of impaired perceptual processing, executive function, social interaction, communication, and/or intellectual ability in ID, ASD, and SCZ appear to emerge from altered neural microstructure, function, and/or wiring rather than gross changes in neuron number or morphology. Here, we review evidence that these disorders may share a common underlying neuropathy: altered excitatory synapse function. We focus on the most promising candidate genes affecting glutamatergic synapse function, highlighting the likely disease-relevant functional consequences of each. We first present a brief overview of glutamatergic synapses and then explore the genetic and phenotypic evidence for altered glutamate signaling in ID, ASD, and SCZ.

SUMMARYAutism is a multifactorial neurodevelopmental disorder affecting more males than females; consequently, under a multifactorial genetic hypothesis, females are affected only when they cross a higher biological threshold. We hypothesize that deleterious variants at conserved residues are enriched in severely affected patients arising from FEMFs (female-enriched multiplex families) with severe disease, enhancing the detection of key autism genes in modest numbers of cases. We show the utility of this strategy by identifying missense and dosage sequence variants in the gene encoding the adhesive junction-associated delta catenin protein (CTNND2) in FEMFs and demonstrating their loss-of-function effect by functional analyses in zebrafish embryos and cultured hippocampal neurons from wildtype and Ctnnd2 null mouse embryos. Finally, through gene expression and network analyses, we highlight a critical role for CTNND2 in neuronal development and an intimate connection to chromatin biology. Our data contribute to the understanding of the genetic architecture of autism and suggest that genetic analyses of phenotypic extremes, such as FEMFs, are of innate value in multifactorial disorders.

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Glutamate receptor interacting protein 1 (GRIP1) is a neuronal scaffolding protein that interacts directly with the C termini of glutamate receptors 2/3 (GluA2/3) via its PDZ domains 4 to 6 (PDZ4-6). We found an association (P < 0.05) of a SNP within the PDZ4-6 genomic region with autism by genotyping autistic patients (n = 480) and matched controls (n = 480). Parallel sequencing identified five rare missense variants within or near PDZ4-6 only in the autism cohort, resulting in a higher cumulative mutation load (P = 0.032). Two variants correlated with a more severe deficit in reciprocal social interaction in affected sibling pairs from proband families. These variants were associated with altered interactions with GluA2/3 and faster recycling and increased surface distribution of GluA2 in neurons, suggesting gain-of-function because GRIP1/2 deficiency showed opposite phenotypes. Grip1/2 knockout mice exhibited increased sociability and impaired prepulse inhibition. These results support a role for GRIP in social behavior and implicate GRIP1 variants in modulating autistic phenotype.

SUMMARY Genetic screens in invertebrates have discovered many synaptogenic genes and pathways. However, similar genetic studies have not been possible in mammals. We have optimized an automated high-throughput platform that employs automated liquid handling and imaging of primary mammalian neurons. Using this platform we have screened 3200 shRNAs targeting 800 proteins. One of the hits identified was LRP6, a co-receptor for canonical Wnt ligands. LRP6 regulates excitatory synaptogenesis, and is selectively localized to excitatory synapses. In vivo knockdown of LRP6 leads to a reduction in the number of functional synapses. Moreover, we show that the canonical Wnt ligand, Wnt8A, promotes synaptogenesis via LRP6. These results provide a proof of principle for using a high content approach to screen for synaptogenic factors in the mammalian nervous system, and identify and characterize a Wnt ligand receptor complex that is critical for development of functional synapses in vivo.

Lamin A and C (A/C) are type V intermediate filaments that form the nuclear lamina. Lamin A/C mutations lead to reduced expression of lamin A/C and diverse phenotypes such as familial cardiomyopathies and accelerated aging syndromes. Normal aging is associated with reduced expression of lamin A/C in osteoblasts and dermal fibroblasts but has never been assessed in cardiomyocytes. Our objective was to compare the expression of lamin A/C in cardiomyocytes of old (24 mo) versus young (4 mo) C57Bl/6J mice using a well-validated mouse model of aging. Lamin B1 was used as a control. Immunohistochemical and immunofluorescence analyses showed reduced expression of lamin A/C in cardiomyocyte nuclei of old mice (proportion of nuclei expressing lamin A/C, 9% vs. 62%, P < 0.001). Lamin A/C distribution was scattered peripherally and perinuclear in old mice, whereas it was homogeneous throughout the nuclei in young mice. Western blot analyses confirmed reduced expression of lamin A/C in nuclear extracts of old mice (ratio of lamin A/C to B1, 0.6 vs. 1.2, P < 0.01). Echocardiographic studies showed increased left ventricular wall thickness with preserved cavity size (concentric remodeling), increased left ventricular mass, and a slight reduction in fractional shortening in old mice. This is the first study to show that normal aging is associated with reduced expression and altered distribution of lamin A/C in nuclei of cardiomyocytes.

Cylindrical Peg-In-Hole assembly has been the benchmark force-controlled robotic assembly. It involves two main stages. The first one aims at placing the peg center within the clearance region of the hole center, known as the search phase. The next step is to correct the orientational misalignment, known as the insertion phase. The insertion has been widely researched as compared to the search phase. Search is generally done by locating the hole center using a vision-sensor or by using blind search techniques. An intelligent search in which a neural network is trained with the moment-profile over the hole surface and then tries to infer the hole center based on the current moment values, works for a parallel peg only and also requires the moment profile over the complete hole and hence is not general. This paper generalizes this approach for the tilted peg case. Another intelligent strategy is precession-based hole search, but again, it requires the tilt of the peg and peg's center to be known to perform precession. We need a general-purpose intelligent search strategy that can work without any knowledge of the environment (like hole diameter, peg tilt, etc.). In this paper, we suggest search strategies using mathematical optimization techniques. These strategies do not require any a priori information about the working environment. Simulation results are presented.